bitty blooms are coming

7.11.2017

So just as fast as the ranunculus showed up... they faded into the past. I enjoyed them for sure but I'm not sure they were exactly worth all the mental energy I put into raising them. The good news is... some of the other flowers are beginning to show life ... and blooms as well. For me there are few greater satisfying moments than gardening (and perhaps cooking and yoga).

When you first look at the garden, you see a lot of green - and hopefully some of this green will turn into flowers in the near future.

Dahlias // The Arabian Night was the first to bloom which makes sense since it went into the ground about two weeks before the other ones. I have a love hate relationship with this one. It is really pretty but it super hard to photograph. The dark crimson is a challenge - but it looks great with dusty miller. I brought a small arrangement (if I can even call it that) over to a friend's house for a party.

Ranunculus // See above. Not worth it. Next year, I'm just going to plant like a million dahlias.

Love-in-a-mist // I think the seed packet that I picked up didn't have an actual picture but rather a drawing so I wasn't totally sure what I was getting into. I can see how it is a hardy flower as it is able to withstand the strong winds that come in off the marsh. I wasn't sure how it was going to bloom - but just yesterday the first one showed up. As of now, this is an absolute repeat for next year.

Cosmos // No blooms yet - but I can't wait. I had planted two varieties that were super similar and the second is performing much better than the first. The second variety was a last minute purchase from Burpee - and I have a million more seeds so I'll hopefully get another round of flowers from those before the Fall.

Tuberose // Fail. The bulbs never came up - and I emailed Burpee for a refund. I was optimistic and excited since they were allegedly super fragrant and great for cutting gardens.

Sunflowers // So, it's a little bit of two different stories here. The seeds that I actually planed this year are doing fine. They seem to be taking root nicely. Now, there are these random sunflowers that planted themselves from last year's seeds... and they are insanely strong. I would bet that by this weekend they'll be as tall as me. I do wish I had tried harder to transplant some of the errant ones into the back row but I guess their randomness is part of the magic.

Dusty Miller // My love affair with dusty miller continues. It should be planted in all the gardens in all the world. It has an incredible shelf-life after being cut so it's the perfect filler to put all around your house... and not worry about.